Auto Top-off

[Matthew5664]

Right I'll get to the point,

I realy hate having to do the top-ups each day for my SW tank there getting to be a pain in the ass. I've been looking into the auto top-off systems and I've come to the conclution that there all a bit coplicated and cost to much to be worth trying to DIY on. On I went with my topping day-to-day then one night while doodling some wavebox ideas I came across a symple way using the syphon effect.

hears a copy of the drawing I did

The idea being that when the water level drops below the airfeed the air is sucked in to displace the outgoing water untill such time as the water rises enough to cover the airfeed once more. I've made a working modle at the mo from a 2l bottle,air tubing and silicon. This is drying overnight and I'll keep this post updated if anyone is interested?

I'm thinking already might have a problem with the force of the air being pulled in water may be sucked in and the RO container my empty into the sump??

Well I'll find out tomorrow..............

 

[K-fee!]

hmm, im interested, please keep us posted

 

[Jen]

I am deffinately interested in seeing how this turns out. I lose a lot of water in my tank throughout the week since I never close my lid. It would be great to rig something like that up.

Don't forget to add pictures if you like the end result!

 

[rEvolution27]

you can always use gravity
have a tub/tank of water above your main tank. Attach a pipe from the bottom of the top-off tank to just below the waterline of your main tank. When water evaporates from your main tank and the water get's below the level of the top off pipe, water automatically fills until the water is back to the top-off pipe.

<ooops internet problems.. i'll upload the pic later>

excuse my illustration skills

 

[Native American]

you can always use gravity
have a tub/tank of water above your main tank. Attach a pipe from the bottom of the top-off tank to just below the waterline of your main tank. When water evaporates from your main tank and the water get's below the level of the top off pipe, water automatically fills until the water is back to the top-off pipe.

<ooops internet problems.. i'll upload the pic later>

excuse my illustration skills

Kind of like a 5gallon bottled water dispenser?

v/r, N-A

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, both matthew and evan's ideas are just like the bottle dispenser. evans is obviously easier, but I'd imagine that the violent bubbling at the inlet might let a little more water into the sump than expected. Matthew's idea, while more complex (if only slightly) avoids that issue. Both are great simple ideas to an annoying problem. Let us know how that works Matt. If it does, you just saved me $75 in solenoids and float switches

 

[Matthew5664]

Evan> went down that route but after doing some resurch into the area I come to the conclution that if there was an larger open pipe then to much RO my be dispenced and I wanted the water top-off to be a gradual thing.

hopefully pic's tonight

 

[SkiFletch]

No pics?

*Goes back in his corner and waits patiently*

 

[Mr Miagi]

Great Idea. Does it work though? I might have to copy this idea!

 

[Matthew5664]

Well bit disappointed to say the least! The testing went well all joints held but one slight problem I didn't account for. The bottle I was using is flexible and the weight of the water just collapsed it and water still came out. With this I crushed the bottle as mush as I could and tried again. Not bad, needs work but I'm sure that it'll be a success. Have on pics because the battery ran out and I started the aquascape my tanks and then decided with the water change water to set up a nano tank. Anyways I'll get so pic tonight I promise and looks like I’ll be making a trip to the plastics factory and go straight into making the real thing.

Anyone attempting to make it and can get it to work properly try adjusting the height of the container, to high and the water is sucked up the air feed to low and well it doesn’t work. But you don't need a degree in engineering to work that out!

 

[Mr Miagi]

So the use of a stronger walled container would yealled better results huh? I may give this a go soon, and see how it goes for mua. How did you attach the airhose to match the water level? Ductape?

 

[Matthew5664]

suction cups with air line clips £1.40 from LFS

 

[dylema]

Have you guys seen closely the pouring spouts that they use on spirit bottles in bars? They have a thin pipe to let air in and a thicker pipe to let liquid out. They pour smoothly not like the bubbling of a drinking water dispenser. Using this same method would be like Matthews idea but could be made a bit simpler.

I guess Air line for the air inlet and slightly larger hose for the water outlet. I guess you could extend the hoses down to the water level. I think it is important to keep the air line higher than the water hose but the position of the air line would determine the water level in your tank/sump of course.

 

[SkiFletch]

Some great ideas in this thread... Makes me want to start tinkering

 

[Toadfish]

sounds cool, but a little unsightly for my smaller tanks. Oh and for my 2 cents worth, if this was on a larger scale (say a pond) you could probably rig it up like the water tank on the back of a toilet. So that if the water goes too low the ball drops opening the valve attached to the water source. Just a thought for those reading this trying to figure out their pond problems.